BRITAIN GAINED a working Collett ‘Grange’ for the first time since 1965 on April 11, when the 81st example – No. 6880 Betton Grange – steamed at Tyseley Locomotive Works.
Betton Grange’s first steaming at the former 81E locomotive depot marked the long-delayed completion of the new-build two-cylinder ‘68XX’, the construction of which first started in 2003, initially at the Llangollen Railway. Betton Grange combines the Standard No. 1 boiler and bogie wheels from ex-Barry ‘Modified Hall’ No. 7927 Willington Hall, the spare driving wheels from Collett ‘43XX’ No. 7325, and bogie from ‘Hall’ No. 5952 Cogan Hall, with bespoke frames and cylinders. No. 6880 is also temporarily running with the tender from ‘Manor’ No. 7822 Foxcote Manor, while its own is under construction.
Although it steamed before its planned debut at the Severn Valley Railway’s Spring Steam Gala on April 18-21, it came too late to organise transport and allow sufficient loaded testing before it could participate. The ‘Grange’s’ booked turns at the gala were subsequently taken over by Stanier ‘Mogul’ No. 13268, with the 2‐6‐0’s diagram being taken by ‘West Country’ No. 21C127 Taw Valley, while sole‐surviving ‘1366’ 0‐6‐0PT No. 1369 was drafted in at the eleventh hour from the South Devon Railway to replace ex-Port Talbot Railway 0‐6‐0ST No. 813, which had to withdraw from the event owing to a leak in its saddle tank.
The Severn Valley gala is the third major event Betton Grange has been booked for this year but missed owing to delays in completing the 4‐6‐0. The ‘68XX’ had originally been scheduled to appear at the Battlefield Line’s Winter Steam Gala on February 3/4 and the East Somerset Railway’s 50th anniversary gala on March 16/17 (see separate story). There were also hopes that it would appear at the West Somerset Railway’s Spring Steam Spectacular on May 3‐6, but the delays in completing the locomotive mean this is now unlikely.
Instead, at the time of going to press, Betton Grange was due to move to the Severn Valley Railway on April 23, then begin six days of loaded test runs from the following Monday. Its planned public debut is now expected to be at the SVR on May 11/12, before moving to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway for its Cotswold Festival of Steam gala on May 25-27, where it will line up alongside fellow GWR new-builds, ‘Saint’ No. 2999 Lady of Legend and ‘Mogul’ No. 9351.
For a full run-down of Betton Grange’s 2024 schedule, see our in-depth article on the locomotive on pages 6-13.
